The Week That Was, october 15, 2017

     The golf business in India is said to be “gaining momentum,” and the nation’s tourism ministers are hoping to accelerate the pace. India currently has about 220 golf venues, according to a national news agency, and the government, which is eager “to exploit golf tourism in its true potential,” has lent its vocal support to the construction of roughly 100 more. The key question, of course, is Can you build them? Golf development has historically been tough in India, for a variety of social and economic reasons, and the nation’s developers have yet to show any desire to build genuine destination-worthy layouts. But it’s the thought that counts, right?

     Peter Nanula’s investment company is close to acquiring its first golf property in Minnesota. Concert Golf Partners has reportedly persuaded the board of Golden Valley Country Club, in suburban Minneapolis, to approve a proposed purchase, and now the Newport Beach, California-based owner/operator is waiting for the club’s members to do the same. If it gets a thumbs-up, Concert will own a venue with an 18-hole, A. W. Tillinghast-designed track that claims to be “indisputably the region's finest golf course” and “quite possibly the most scenic, challenging, enjoyable, and golfer-friendly course you’ll ever want to play.” (Some credit for this praise should go to Keith Foster, who recently restored Tillinghast’s 90-year-old design.) Concert currently owns 16 properties, with the largest number (five) being in Florida. Although it has incredibly deep pockets and an appetite for growth, it’s having a hard time adding to its portfolio. As best I can determine, it’s added just two properties so far this year, Philmont Country Club and White Manor Country Club, both in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

     Surplus Transactions – The members of Engineers Country Club, in the western part of New York’s Long Island, have voted “overwhelmingly” to sell their property to a home builder. RXR Realty plans to develop parts of Engineers’ 138 acres, the bulk of which is dedicated to an 18-hole, Devereux Emmet-designed golf course that dates from the early 1920s. RXR, which hasn’t disclosed the sale price, aims to close on the transaction next month. . . . Families from Minnesota and North Dakota have purchased a bank-owned golf course in Bullhead City, Arizona. Chris and Rene Ashmore are the leaders of the group that paid an undisclosed price for Laughlin Ranch Golf Club, which features an 18-hole, David Druzisky-designed course that opened in 2004. In an interview with the Mohave Valley Daily News, Rene Ashmore described the club as “a little bit of a hidden jewel” with “great growth potential.” . . . Cook’s Pest Control group has reportedly paid $3.7 million for Decatur Country Club, a 95-year-old venue in Decatur, Alabama. Cook’s, which plans to build a new headquarters on the club’s 95 acres, has already closed the course. According to the Decatur Daily, the seller was an investment group that acquired the club’s mortgage in 2011.

     As America shrinks its international presence, the People’s Republic is looking to sink its teeth into one of our long-time allies. Private companies and government-related Chinese entities are master-planning a huge number of development projects in Pakistan connected to a venture called the Chinese-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is expected to spread across thousands of acres and precipitate what’s been described as “a deep and broad-based penetration of most sectors of Pakistan’s economy as well as its society.” The scope of the project reportedly has “no precedent in Pakistan’s history,” and it’ll involve ventures in agriculture, telecommunications, manufacturing, broadcast television, internet, and much more. One of the proposals calls for the development of at least two coastal resorts that will include hotels, marinas, a port for cruise ships, entertainment venues, wildlife sanctuaries, an aquarium, a campground, places to eat and drink, parks, and, yes, golf courses. The whole shebang is still mostly pie in the sky, but it’s an indication of the kind of things that can happen when a president is obsessed with putting America First.

     Pipeline Overflow – Conservationists are mounting a counter-offensive, but Mike Keiser and Todd Warnock have submitted their development proposal for the Coul Links property in the Scottish Highlands. They promise to play within the environmental rules, boost the local economy, and deliver an 18-hole, Coore & Crenshaw-designed golf course that will offer “one of the most memorable golf experiences in the world.” If they get a green light promptly, they aim to break ground on the course in the spring and to open it in early 2021. . . . Lester George reports that he’s designing 18-hole and 12-hole courses for Virginia True, a proposed 1,000-acre community originally known as Fones Cliffs. A group led by Robert C. Smith recently paid $12 million for the property, in Richmond County, Virginia, and the Northern Neck News says that George is now “staking out tees, fairways and greens.” The seller, Diatomite Corporation, secured a rezoning for the property in 2015. At the time, Smith was working for Diatomite. . . . Pending a successful rezoning, Riser Developments will build a small golf community near Lacombe, in central Alberta, Canada. The community, called Lincoln Ranch, will take shape on 159 acres along the eastern shore of Gull Lake, and it’ll consist of 100 houses, parks, hiking trails, and a nine-hole golf course.

     An official decision hasn’t been made, but it looks as if Dartmouth College is going to turn out the lights at its golf course. The Ivy League school, which is reportedly facing a budget crunch, is said to be “evaluating” its options at Hanover Country Club, which serves as the practice venue for its men’s and women’s golf teams. The club, part of Dartmouth’s campus in Hanover, New Hampshire, has operated since 1899, and it features an 18-hole, Orrin Smith-designed golf course. It loses money, however, and some people think the college could pocket as much as $25 million for its 123 acres.

     Desolation Row Extended – Steve Cushman has found a developer for the 200 acres currently occupied by his family’s Riverwalk Golf Club. The Cushmans have agreed to sell their flood-prone, 27-hole complex in San Diego, California to Hines, a well-known national company that intends to transform the property into a master-planned community with up to 4,000 housing units, up to 1 million square feet of office space, a shopping area, and a park. The entire golf complex will operate until 2021, and then it’ll begin closing, nine holes at a time, until it disappears forever. . . . In Bothell, Washington, Wayne Golf Course is a dead man walking. The course, described by the Seattle Times as “unpretentious” and “affordable,” has been in business since 1931, but it’s deteriorated in recent years and neither its owner, a conservation group, nor its prospective owner, the city of Bothell, wish to fund necessary improvements. The city plans to buy the course and turn it into a regional park. . . . Deon Dekkers has pulled the plug on Twin Lakes Golf Course, an 18-hole, 18-year-old track outside Tyler, Texas. It appears that Dekkers, who owns a nearby nursery, will grow trees and possibly cattle on the property.